Guwahati: Assam’s 2026 assembly polls witnessed the emergence of an AI-fuelled campaign, where deep fakes did not merely smear reputation but stood as a threat to manipulate the electoral outcome, the truth to be known only on May 4 when votes are counted.The polls may be over, but there is an undercurrent of fear surrounding such campaigns that continues to haunt the state’s political landscape, with concerns over synthetic media and covert manipulation now at the forefront raising fears that the state might be previewing democracy’s AI apocalypse.The technology has touched not just chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife but also a 27 year old debutant candidate from the Opposition Congress alliance in Guwahati, Kunki Choudhury and a AIUDF women candidate Meenakshi Rahman at Pakabetbari constituencyThe damage may already be done. The debutant candidate’s and the AIUDF candidate’s reputation has been scarred, Sarma’s family has been dragged into controversy, and voters have been left grappling with manipulated realities.Sarma in a telecast interview with ABP News recently dismissed the allegations against him and his wife saying Pawan Khera used deep fake documents made through AI against his wife’s properties just days before polling could have swayed voters. He added these had no effect on BJP’s electoral fortunes as the state’s voters neither accept Khera nor any slurs on its leaders.Sarma said in the interview that he will, in his individual capacity, file a PIL against the Election Commission (EC) after the elections, seeking “purity of democracy.”He said that because these allegations were done prior to election and “These documents could have changed the outcome of the election. Can the election be recalled if the allegations were found to be wrong after the counting?“A national political party did this with the motive to influence the outcome of the election. Then their registration should be cancelled if the allegations are proved to be fraud. Press conference with the fake document by Congress is a collateral damage that cannot be repaired by any other means,” he said.He said he will be taking this issue to a bigger platform with his PIL. “(This time) It has not affected me. I think before 2029 such deep fakes and AI will be used against BJP,” he said.Two years back in May 2024, the Delhi High Court faced a similar PIL filed by a group of advocates during the Lok Sabha campaign expressing grave concerns over the rapid spread of manipulated videos and their potential to mislead the public during national polls.The court, however, reposed its trust in ECI, saying it could not devise a policy in the middle of elections. It directed the lawyers’ organisation to submit a representation to the ECI, which was asked to decide expeditiously by May 6, given the urgency of the issue.Responding to these concerns, the ECI on May 6 issued an advisory flagging the misuse of hyper realistic synthetically generated information, including deepfakes depicting political leaders, as a serious threat to free and fair campaigning.The Commission stressed that such content contaminates the electoral level playing field, misleads stakeholders, and erodes voter trust. It recalled earlier guidelines issued on May 6, 2024, and an advisory dated January 16, 2025, which addressed ethical use of social media and labelling of synthetic content.In its directions to political parties, candidates, and campaign representatives, EC advised that all AI generated or synthetically altered campaign material must carry a clear label such as “AI Generated”, “Digitally Enhanced”, or “Synthetic Content” and each content item must disclose the name of the entity responsible for its generation in metadata or captions.It also said that no content may misrepresent identity, appearance, or voice of any person without consent in a manner likely to mislead voters and parties must maintain internal records of all AI generated campaign materials, including creator details and timestamps, for verification when sought by the ECI.Sarma’s wife has filed an FIR on April 5 midnight against Khera at the Guwahati Crime Branch under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including cheating, forgery, defamation, and false statements in connection with elections. Assam Police since then has been looking out for the Congress leader, whose transit anticipatory bail issued by Telangana high court has been stayed by the Supreme Court on Friday.Insiders in BJP also say that the Khera’s documents did not have any impact on the party. “Khera’s allegations against the chief minister and his wife have turned out to be a shoot-and-scoot tactic by Congress,” a BJP party insider said.Similalry, the AJP candidate pitted against BJP’s Vijay Gupta in Guwahati Central constituency Kunki Choudhury has been at the centre of controversy.She lodged a police complaint against alleged deep fake videos circulating on social media about her family, following chief minister Sarma’s campaign remarks targeting her mother’s food habits.“These deep fake videos falsely depict me in a manner intended to harm my character, reputation, dignity and electoral prospects.,” Chowdhury stated in her complaint. She alleged before the media that a few of the social media users, who uploaded the fake videos, are associated with BJP. Her party leadership maintained that these deep fake videos are circulated to most likely incite public misunderstanding and to try and influence electoral dignity.AIUDF central committee general secretary Champak Kalita said that the party’s candidate Meenakshi Rahman has also been a victim of deep fake videos during the campaigning period.“We cannot ignore the new technologies like AI tools in our daily lives or even in stock markets. But, these tools are good as long as they are not used to attack or smear anyone’s character. Political parties may take help of AI tools to highlight their work but not against rivals,” Kalita said.
